


Life in Technicolor

by coldwinterrose



Series: Happy Steve Bingo Fills [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Artist Steve Rogers, Captain America: The First Avenger, Colored Pencils, Colors, Gen, Happy Steve Bingo, No Dialogue, Post-Serum Steve Rogers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-15
Updated: 2018-09-15
Packaged: 2019-07-12 10:10:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15993050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coldwinterrose/pseuds/coldwinterrose
Summary: When Peggy asked if there was anything he needed or wanted, the first thing that popped into his head was to ask for some colored pencils. When she’d actually agreed to get him some, he thought for sure she was humoring him, so he was more than a little surprised when an aide delivered a package to him a few hours later.





	Life in Technicolor

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my third fill for the Happy Steve Bingo! This is for the prompt _colors_. The title is from the song of the same name from the band Coldplay, off their Viva La Vida album.

It was an entirely selfish thing to ask for, given everything, but when Peggy asked if there was anything he needed or wanted, the first thing that popped into his head was to ask for some colored pencils. When she’d actually agreed to get him some, he thought for sure she was humoring him, so he was more than a little surprised when an aide delivered a package to him a few hours later. 

But, here he sat, in the empty barracks, with not only a pack of pencils in front of him, but a new sketchbook as well. He’d been staring at the blank page for a couple minutes now, almost too scared to touch the pencils for so many reasons.

Peggy couldn’t have known, but these pencils were the _exact_ brand he’d always wished he could try, not that he would have bothered wasting the money even if he’d had it. There was no reason to buy something he wouldn’t have been able to truly appreciate. It was why he’d stuck to graphite pencil and, when he could afford it, charcoal.

Bucky had even offered to help him, to make sure he wasn’t picking the wrong colors, but that wouldn’t have been fair to him, taking up so much of his time. Plus, it just would have been too much of a reminder that even in this part of his life, something he took up just for himself, he still needed help, so he declined. 

Steve sighed. He was stalling and he knew it. He wasn’t exactly sure _why_ he was so emotional over this. It wasn’t like he hadn’t already noticed the difference in his vision, even just after the procedure. He’d stepped out of the chamber feeling like Judy Garland stepping into Oz for the first time, everything in vivid technicolor, almost too beautiful for words. So, being nervous over seeing what some pencils looked like on paper was a little ridiculous in his opinion. 

Hesitantly, he reached over and opened the pack, choosing a color at random and swatching it on the paper before he could change his mind. The beautiful, rich red color almost took his breath away, it was so much _more_ than he’d expected. 

Fear forgotten, he reached for pencil after pencil, filling the page with splashes of blues and greens, yellows and oranges. His favorite was a light blue, the color he imagined Bucky’s eyes were. If he made that swatch a little larger than the others, that was between him and the sketchbook.

He turned to a blank page, fingers itching to actually draw something, _anything_. His mind raced, thinking of all the things he’d always wanted to draw in something more than black and shades of gray, until he finally settled on Prospect Park. It was something he’d grown up seeing, but he wouldn’t be too upset if the result was different from reality. Plus this way he could maybe one day compare it to reality, see exactly how off he really was.

He lost himself in this half imagined verdant world, rich greens and deep browns dotted with flowers of every color he could think of. To finish it off, silly and childish as it might have been, he added a rainbow. 

Looking at the finished piece, he knew it was nowhere near the best work he’d ever done, but at that moment it didn’t matter. For the first time in far, far too long he’d drawn something because he _wanted_ to, not for a class or to try to make a few coins. He probably could have drawn stick figures and still feel the same giddiness he felt.

He’d gone into this experiment thinking he could do good for others, actually help people. But maybe, _just maybe_ , he could enjoy some of these changes for himself too.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
